US 'deserter' leaves Jakarta for Japan

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Former U.S. soldier Charles Jenkins, top, boards a plane with his wife Hitomi Soga, second top, and their two daughters Mika, right, and Belinda. Photo: AP

Accused US deserter Charles Jenkins today was on his way to Japan, where he was likely to be turned over to US custody once he has received medical treatment.

Jenkins, and his Japanese wife Hitomi Soga and two children, left Jakarta this morning on a government-chartered flight operated by Japan Airlines.

Jenkins, 64, appeared frail as he left the lobby of their Jakarta hotel for the airport, leaning on a cane and holding his wife's hand as they departed.

His departure, which was televised live by Japanese TV networks, was the latest chapter of an unlikely family saga that is entrancing Japan.

Soga, 45, was kidnapped by North Korea in 1978 to train spies in the Japanese language and culture. There, she met Jenkins, who allegedly abandoned his post on the South Korean border in 1965 to defect to the North. The couple married and had two daughters.

North Korea allowed Soga to return to Japan in 2002, but efforts by the Japanese Government to bring her family were delayed in part by Jenkins' fears that he would be turned over to US authorities. A bilateral agreement gives Washington the right to seek legal jurisdiction over Jenkins in Japan.